I do a lot of filing on titanium and I am looking for a supplier of
good quality flat, halfround and round cross-cut bastard files.The
ones that I have currently are 15" long and blunt.

There is no machine tool shop on this island and the files that are
available here are all from the east. This means that they become
blunt when one files lead. I am tired of this. I don’t want to buy
cheap and buy twice.

I would like to connect to a good machine tool shop in the USA that
stocks a quality product. I am not concerned with the price, I just
want good quality. Can anyone direct me please?

I buy most of my tools from Contenti in Rhode Island. They have the
economy (read made in India) and top quality Swiss-made files. A
great company in my opinion - I turn to them for everything.www.contenti.com.

Thank you for bringing this to my attention, I would like to buy the
super ring bender, however the trouble is that I live in England and
the postage and delivery is so expensive. I have requested their
catalogue so I hope I can find a way.

I was successful with mscdirect.com. Although their website is not
geared to international orders, in as much that there is only the USA
states that they send to ( on the website) and that if there is no
zip code, one cannot complete your registration, it took only one
toll free call to get all the info on their data base. So I’m all
set to order.

This is a problem that I frequently encounter when ordering from
outside the USA.

The other day I wanted to order some rare earth magnets to make a
magnetic pin tumbler. (Many thanks to Mark Hatay and Orchid for some
stunning pictures.)

The first company said that they can’t send me six magnets because
they were not insured. Like for $40? I e-mailed them and told them to
laugh the insurance off and just send the magnets. I promise, I said,
that I won’t sue if they don’t arrive.No go, they said.

The second company, ForceFieldMagnets.com, had their website set up
and I paid there and then with my credit card. They sent a
confirmation e-mail and ONE WEEK LATER the magnets arrived at my
studio. WOW! I normally work on a three week lead- in time from the
major supply houses like Rio and Stuller.( which is quite
acceptable, I might add) Also their website is well worth looking at
for some facinating magnetic info.

Now all I got to figure out how to buy some iTunes on the 'net and
my happiness will be complete!

The big tool distributors like MSCDirect and Enco handle Nicholson
Files. I tried to contact MSC, but their site was down. can be
contacted at http://www.use-enco.com

I might also point out, that one will be surprised when one goes
into a major supplier’s catalog and discovers the many varieties of
files…

Since Bastard cut is mentioned…that means it’s an American
Pattern file… American pattern files come in Bastard, Second, and
Smooth cut… Swiss pattern files have numbers designating the
cut…00, 0, 1, 2, through 6… The 00 and 6 are not all that
common…

A criss-cross cut file is referred to as Double Cut (not to be
confused with Second Cut)… Note…it seems to me that as the file
gets larger, the coarsness of the Bastard cut gets coarser, too…

Nicholson makes a good file, and I believe up to 16 inch in size, in
Bastard Double Cut files of several varieties… Nicholson has about
80% of the American Pattern file market…

Other common manufacturers of good quality American Pattern files
are Simonds and Grobet…

There is a very foul-mouthed woman who works in our local hardware
store. The boss told me one day how she got that way. When she first
came to work there she never swore. A customer came in to buy a file
and she showed him what they had. He said, "I’ll take this bastard."
When he left she told the boss, “that man was swearing.” She could
hardly bring herself to repeat the word he used to describe the
file. The boss just laughed and said, “Its OK. It is quite proper
and correct to call a file a bastard.” The next time a customer came
in to look at files she said, "We have these bastards, and this
#%&@!! and those !~#&*$!!..